


Welcome Back to Night Vale

by mustachio



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2490380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mustachio/pseuds/mustachio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been far too long since Carlos has last seen the lights above the Arby's in person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome Back to Night Vale

Carlos sits on the hood of Cecil’s car in the mostly empty parking lot of Arby’s. It’s late enough now that even the employees are leaving and he watches as every car goes, hoping that it will be replaced with his own Hybrid Coupe. Apparently, Cecil had taken to driving it in Carlos’s absence. The metal of Cecil’s Toyota Corolla is warm under Carlos’s hands, his palms wet and slightly sticky with sweat. His heart is beating too fast and he can’t tell if it’s because he ran from the Sand Wastes to the house he shares with Cecil or if it’s because of his nerves—his ridiculous and inexplicable nerves.

He lies back and closes his eyes, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. Inside the car, Cecil’s show is playing just loud enough for Carlos to hear it from outside. It helps, as it usually does, but every word he says that isn’t about the text Carlos sent him almost ten minutes ago just sends his nerves spiking all over again.

He rolls onto his side. He wishes Cecil had his read receipts turned on so Carlos could at least tell if Cecil has seen the message. At least if he could tell that much he could be a little more certain that he’s not waiting for someone who isn’t going to show up.

Maybe he should have just waited at home. If he’d waited at home he could have taken a shower and changed his clothes and he could have been absolutely certain that Cecil would show up because they live together. Carlos’s home is Cecil’s home and Carlos is reasonably certain Cecil has not been sleeping anywhere else the past few months.

It’s just that the last time his return seemed impossible this is where he met with Cecil and it seemed kind of romantic to do it again.

On the radio there’s the sound of something shifting and a piece of paper being unfolded.

“Oh, listeners, I have just been informed that only a few minutes ago Carlos the Scientist—my boyfriend who, until now, was trapped in a strange desert Other World—was spotted running out of an Old Oak Door in the Sand Wastes. There is no word of where he went, but—“

Carlos hears the familiar chime of Cecil’s phone turning on and then,

“There is a message from Carlos on my phone. Listeners, I—I must go. Surely there are more details to this story and, as a radio professional, it is my duty to gather. I take you now to the weather.”

Carlos sits up quickly in anticipation for Cecil’s arrival.

The headlights of Carlos’s car hurt his eyes when the briefly flash into them as Cecil enters the parking lot in less time than should probably be possible—not that time means much of anything to Carlos these days. Cecil doesn’t bother to park properly. The car is going across three different spots and Carlos is certain that in any other situation he would have gotten a ticket, but the Sherriff’s Secret Police seem not to care right now.

By the time Cecil gets out of the car, Carlos is grinning so wide it almost hurts. The entirety of Cecil’s outfit is cat print—from the lilac leggings that are a touch too big on him to the deep neon green V-neck that Carlos got him for his birthday. It’s all so very Cecil and Carlos can hardly breathe the intensity of his happiness is so great.

“Carlos…”

Cecil takes three steps towards Carlos before he stops, covering his mouth with both hands. He’s tearing up a little and the sight of it makes Carlos’s heart hurt even though he knows the tears are happy tears.

“Hi, Cecil.” Carlos waves almost shyly, his wide grin turning into a smaller, sheepish one. “I’ve missed you.”

Carlos doesn’t remember Cecil walking or even running the rest of the way towards him, but in the next moment Carlos has an armful of Cecil and he’s sliding off the car so that he can hold Cecil even closer. He rubs comforting circles on Cecil’s back and buries his nose in Cecil’s hair to remind himself of the smell of it. He hates himself for even forgetting it in the first place.

“You’re back! You’re really back…” Cecil doesn’t say it, but Carlos knows that Cecil was beginning to suspect he never would return to Night Vale. “I’m so—I’m so happy!”

Cecil takes one arm from around Carlos’s neck to wipe his tears away from one cheek. With his thumb, Carlos wipes the tears off the other.

“I’m so happy to see you, Carlos,” Cecil says again because he can and because it’s true and Carlos presses a lingering kiss to Cecil’s forehead for it. “Why did you come here, though? You could have waited at home.”

Cecil fingers a month old tear in the lab coat he’s been wearing the entirety of the past few months. Carlos feels slightly embarrassed about the state of his appearance, but not enough to wish he had just waited at home. He shakes his head.

“After being apart for so long, I just wanted to see you. I didn’t want to wait for you to get home.” Carlos cups Cecil’s face in his hands. He rubs his nose against Cecil’s and, for a moment, is silent as he enjoys the closeness. “I wanted to see you as soon as possible, even if it is just a few minutes earlier.”

When they kiss it’s salty from the tears they’re both shedding, but neither minds it at all. Carlos keeps his eyes open. He doesn't pull away from the kiss, just wants to see Cecil's face as it happens. He wants to see all the little imperfections on Cecil's skin that can't be seen from a distance because, at a surface level, those imperfections are part of what make Cecil, Cecil. When he pulls away from the kiss it’s to press more to Cecil's forehead, cheeks, and chin. He lets his lips linger at each place and after the last kiss he just looks at Cecil and grins, happier than he’s ever been in his life.

It’s Cecil’s turn to rub his nose against Carlos’s now and he brings his hands up to take Carlos’s away from his face and thread their fingers together.

“Carlos, as much as I’d love to stay here with you, I have to get back to the station. Management won’t be happy that I’ve left.”

“I can go with you.” Carlos offers, but Cecil shakes his head.

“No, you go home. Take a shower, get into some clean clothes. By the time you’re done, I’ll be home, and we can have the rest of the night to cuddle on the couch and watch science documentaries.”

Carlos smiles and doesn’t protest. Cecil puts the keys to the Hybrid Coupe in his hands and kisses his cheek.

“Welcome back to Night Vale, Carlos. Welcome home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Finally moving this from my writing blog to here. My writing blog is [polyships](http://polyships.tumblr.com) if you want to see more of my stuff that has yet to be transferred to ao3 (and probably won't be for a while).


End file.
